RelatioNet Holocaust Project

Name: Josee (Josepha) Weisberg.

Year of birth: 1937.

Name of father: Jona.

Name of mother: Anta.

Place of birth: Brussels, Belgium.

Blog editor: Ido Mayerowicz.

My Grandmother's Story- Josepha Majerowicz:

Josepha's childhood:

My grandmother Josepha was born in Brussels, Belgium on 8/19/1937. Her parents were Jona, a dentist, and Anta, who worked with him in their clinic in Brussels.

Josepha wint Anta, her mother.

In 1941, the Germans invaded Belgium and conquered it with no resistance. After the occupation, the Nazis didn't allow Jona to treat people, who weren't Jewish. Sonia, Josepha's aunt, also lived in their house. Sonia knew an owner of a restaurant that

A document sent to Anta, which says they must wear a yellow bedge.

agreed to hide and feed her for payment.

In order for Josepha to meet her parents, she went to a physiotherapy exercise for her health, where she could see her parents twice a week.

After a while, Josepha's parents got a message from Mrs. Fervors, a friend in the Belgium resistance, saying that the restaurant where Josepha was hidden was a popular meeting place among the Nazis. Usually, after the Nazis had eaten, they used to go up to the brothel, one floor above the restaurant.

Josepha's parents understood that Josepha is in danger, being spotted as a Jew. 

"A page from the "Jews book
.which shows all of Anta's fathers were Jews

" A page from the "Jews book
.which shows all of Jona's father were Jews

                                                                                                                                                                   Mrs. Fervors suggested that she would keep Josepha in her mansion and they agreed. 

Josepha stayed in the mansion with an older girl, who was jealous of her. Before Josepha came, she was the only girl in the mansion, she didn't want anybody else in the mansion.

The other daughter used to abuse Josepha. She told Josepha that her parents were killed by the Nazis and that they were buried under the mansion.

One day Morris, the brother in-law of the mansion's owner, got to the mansion, after the Germans wanted to send him to a force labor camp and he refused.

Morris saw Josepha was getting bullied by the mansion tenants, and he asked to transfer her to the village and she accepted the offer.

Josepha's life in the village:

In the village, Josepha got treated much better.

The family she lived with had another child-"Josef", who was 8 years older than Josepha (Josepha was 4 year old). The family never discriminated between Josepha and Josef, even the little amount of food they had, they divided between them equally.

During World War II, Josepha worked in the village, helping in the fieldwork. She gathered the rested wheat after the harvest.

After Josepha was done gathering the wheat, she came to the wheat mill, which used water, where they grinded the wheat.

One time, Josepha was very diligent while she collected the eggs form the coop; she even collected the gypsum eggs they spread to make the chickens lay more eggs.

Josepha in the village.

Josepha remembers that during the war there was a Belgium underground. During the war Americans and Canadians injured paratroopers who used to hide in the house.

In the first year Josepha stayed in the village, her parents visited once, and they didn't see each other during the whole war.

Madlen, her 'aunt' wasn't religious. However, when people had various problems, it was acceptable to talk with the priest, and so she did about Josepha.

He decided they couldn't force Josepha to become Christian. They agreed that Josepha would choose her religion at the age of 16. Josepha learned with the nuns in her class.

When they had bible lessons, she was brought down to the kindergarten.  One of the nuns promised that if people found out Josepha was Jewish, she would escape with her to the forest. The nun added, she would sacrifice herself to save Josepha.

V2 missle.

Josepha also remembers they dug a pit in the corner of the garden, which they ran to when the village was bombed. Josepha also remembers some fallings of V2 missals, which the Nazis aimed at London, but fell far away from their targets.

 The story of Josepha's parents during the war:

After Jona and Anta came to visit Josepha, they came back to Brussels, where Jona worked as a dentist. They came back because Jews couldn't leave Brussels, unfortunately a Jew ratted them. That Jew sold a lot of Jews to the Nazis for his life (the Nazis killed him eventually).

Jona and Anta were sent to prison. Before the war, Jona had a special client, a Romanian ambassador; Romania was an ally of the Nazis then. The ambassador was able to arrange that instead of sending Jona and Anta to a concentration camp in Germany, they would be send to Chernovich (a town under Romanian rule, and today in Ukraine).

When the train reached Bulgaria, Jona and Anta jumped off the train.

They got hidden by Bulgarian farmers.

Later, Jona bought documents, and together with Anta traveled to Bucharest, Romania's capital. In Bucharest, Jona worked as a dentist and earned some money. After that they had traveled to Turkey, they got a visa to Palestine form the British 

ambassador.

Anta and Jona.

Form Istanbul they took the "Orient Express" train, through Syria and they made it to Palatine. In palatine they were arrested, but after three days they were released thanks to Jona's brother's (Nachman) visa.

While World War II continued in Europe, Jona worked as a dentist in Haifa.

After the war:

When the war ended, Jona and Anta looked for Josepha, with the help of the "Red Cross". However, the connection with Josepha had been lost, it wasn't clear if Josepha survived the war.

Josepha was finally found in a village in Belgium.

Jona and Anta took a ship from "Port Said"(Egypt) to France, form there they traveled through land to Belgium. In December 1945, Josepha returned to Brussels, to her parents' house.

After the war, Jona saved Madlen's life (the woman held Josepha in the village) from a disease. Jona was able to get hold of some penicillin, which was scarce at the time.

In 1945, when Josepha returned to her parents' house, she came back to school. She had some difficulties because her French (the acceptable language in the city) wasn't so good, since she spoke only Flemish in her village. Josepha learned in a government school for girls. Later, Josepha started studying medicine. She was obliged to stop her studying, as a result of her immigration to Israel.

Josepha visited Israel for the first time when she was 16 year old, as a tourist. She liked the life in Israel, as opposed to Belgium, where the Jews were less "free". Josepha immigrated to Israel alone. In Israel she lived with her aunt.

Josepha worked as a medical laboratory assistant. After she had her two children (Bat-Sheva and Yaron), she stopped working as a medical laboratory assistant, she continued giving private lessons in French.

When Jona and Anta immigrated to Israel, Anta became paralyzed. Because Anta used to help Jona as his secretary, Josepha helped Jona and took her mother's job.

Josepha married Shmuel on 1960, they had 2 children and 5 grandsons.

.Josepha and Samuel